Bowling, Weather, Nian.

Much to my surprise, having had so many days away, I bowled really well yesterday and was pleased with myself. Matt did too which was a good thing. Actually had a good afternoon, nothing really hurt for a change. It is always great when you play a sport well, I only wish it happened more often.

They keep forecasting snow, but so far we haven’t had any more. Not that I am complaining you understand. At least we are not having the dreadful weather that the UK has been having for months, a friend in northern England says the ground is so wet the rain just runs off it any more. In some areas they have had flooding and people have lost their livelihoods because of so much water. The weather is not helping on the east Coast of the States either, some friends took 4 days to travel to Florida because the roads were iced up so badly. God help those still feeling the effects of Hurricane Sandy.

Had an email yesterday telling me the Mandarin, our favourite Chinese restaurant, will be celebrating Chinese New Year from January 14 to February 24. This year, it is the year of the Snake. The restaurant will be having their dumpling festival and as I love dumplings I will certainly be there. They have different foods this year from last year, pity, they did an ice cream I loved. This year they have ginger ice cream. I just picked up this cute little story from their email.

Chinese New Year evolved from a mythical creature called "Nian" which means "year" in Chinese. This creature would go to the village every year to consume all of the villagers' food and livestock. If there was not enough supply, it would even consume people! Soon the villagers discovered that Nian was afraid of the colour red and of loud noises. Thus, every year, villagers would dress in red, use red decorations such as red scrolls, and light firecrackers to scare Nian away. Ever since then, Nian has disappeared and never returned. This representation of Nian is red anyway!!!

Tonight we have having the Spicy Pork Tenderloin for which I gave the recipe yesterday, we thought it looked good enough to eat. This recipe below looked really colourful and is something I often do with collards but I guess any greens would do, kale would certainly work well. I always use olive oil for health reasons.

Sautéed Greens with Garlic

By The Nourished Kitchen
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

Ingredients

• 2 bunches greens
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1  shallot
• 1  dried red pepper
• 1 teaspoon ghee or coconut oil 

Instructions

1. Start by chopping the garlic and the shallots. Some people prefer them minced, but I love big, sweet chunks of garlic.
2. Trim the stems from the leafy part of the green. In some cases, you can reserve the stems and use them like celery. Roll the greens tightly and cut them in thin strips.
3. Heat your desired fat in a pan, and fry your shallots and onion until they’re tender.
4. Add the greens and cook until they’re bright. Add a touch of dried red pepper.
5. Serve warm. Cheap, wholesome and tasty.

Have a great day

The Rabbit, Books.

Today we are going out to lunch to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. We will, no doubt, be eating dumplings as I mentioned last week. As we are meeting friends who are on time constraints we have to leave early, so not much time this morning.

Actually, the weather this morning is supposed to be very cold and as everything yesterday was melting, the roads could be very icy and slippery, in which case Matt says we ain’t going anywhere!!

I received a warning on Facebook yesterday, beware of people asking for donations for Egypt, it’s a Pyramid scam!!!

Often there are discussions on what makes people read different kinds of books in different genres, particularly Fantasy. Personally, I find if a book tells a good story in a well thought out setting, I don’t need to analyse why I am reading the book in the first place. I actually have a novel at the moment which I am finding very difficult to read as, to me, there doesn’t seem to be any flow. Some parts I have read are exciting, other parts the author is rabbiting on about various philosophical ideas and I find it somewhat boring. I think I will be returning it to the library. What I don’t understand, it was on the best sellers list for a while and yet books which I think are excellent don’t make it. Who actually decides this I wonder? It can’t just be readers – most of them don’t come along til a book is already a best seller as far as I can see. Maybe its concentrated promotion by book sellers – I just don’t understand it.

Here’s a recipe with a touch of luxury added. I believe in cooking with wine although I have been told just using stock tastes equally as good, I am not sure this is really true. The French, after all, know a thing or two about cooking.

Chicken in Champagne and Mushroom Sauce

Source: The Heritage of French Cooking

Serves 5

In France, cooking with wine is one of the earliest culinary traditions. It is described in the first written works, such as the fourteenth-century Le Viandier by Taillevent, and is a great national tradition that has continued unbroken for six centuries. In this recipe, the Champagne and cream lend considerable refinement to the tender chicken meat.

INGREDIENTS

For Chicken:

1 chicken, about 4 lb, cut into 12 serving pieces

1 shallot, minced

12 tarragon leaves

Salt and Freshly ground pepper

2/3 cup brut Champagne

For Sauce:

1/2 cup light cream

1/2 teaspoon arrowroot

1 teaspoon mustard

1 lb very fresh mushrooms

DIRECTIONS

FOR CHICKEN: Remove the skin from the chicken pieces and make incisions in the flesh. Put the chicken, shallot and tarragon into a 10 1/4 inch nonstick sauté pan. Season with salt and pepper and add the Champagne. Bring to a boil over low heat. Stir, cover and cook for 30 minutes.

FOR SAUCE: Mix the cream, arrowroot and mustard. After the chicken has cooked for 30 minutes, pour this mixture into the pan and cook, covered, for another 15 minutes over low heat.

Meanwhile, cut off the mushroom stems level with the caps and discard them. Wash the caps, pat dry and finely slice. Add to the pan after 45 minutes' cooking time and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring often. Serve immediately.

Have a great day